The task force also recommended six shorter term objectives: (1) Development by 1970 of a nationwide surveillance system to identify levels of pollutants in air, water, and soil.

(2) Establishment by 1970 of criteria for individual and combinations of chemicals discharged into air, water, or soil.

(3) Require by 1969 the filing of 5-year comprehensive environmental health plans from State and local governments receiving DHEW funds.

(4) Creation by 1968 of a permanent technical assistance unit within DHEW.

(5) Determination by 1969 of the manpower requirements for both public and private sector needs for environmental program operations beginning in 1972.

(6) Establishment by 1968 of an integrated effort for health education and general education to create a public understanding of the environment.145

Among 14 other recommendations, those relating to national policy for science included a proposal for a Council of Ecological Advisers;146 establishment of a facility for large-scale, long-term studies in human ecology and establishment of an Office of Assistant Secretary for Research and Development within DHEW.

(b) Aircraft Noise Control

Items of policy for aircraft noise control during 1967 included an administration bill to authorize aircraft noise abatement regulation and a Presidential memorandum on aircraft noise, accompanied by a report from the President's Science Adviser.

(1) An administration bill.-On January 11, 1967, William F. McKee, Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency, sent to the President of the Senate a draft bill to amend the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize aircraft noise abatement regulation Senator Magnuson subsequently introduced S. 707 on January 30, 1967, which was referred to the Commerce Committee. No further action occurred during the first session..

The bill is similar to the administration bills introduced in the 89th Congress (S. 3591, H.R. 16171). S. 707 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to "*** prescribe and amend standards for the measurement of aircraft noise and sonic boom and to prescribe and amend such rules and regulations as he may find necessary to provide for the control and abatement of aircraft noise and sonic boom."

(2) The President's memorandum on aircraft noise.-Noting the conflict between economic pressures that cause intensive land use near airports and the increase in air traffic which has exposed persons and property near airports to increasing aircraft noise, the President on March 22, 1967, instructed department and agency heads with programs relating to aircraft noise problem to be "deeply concerned with seeking solutions to the problem of noise and compatible land use around airports." 147 Further, he said:

145 Ibid., p. xviii.

146 The Council would "* • provide an overview to assessment of activities in both the public and private sectors affecting environmental change, and to act in an analyzing capacity, to be in a commanding position to advise on critical environmental risk/benefit decisions, and finally, to be instrumental in the shaping of national policy on environmental management." Ibid., p. xix.

147 Aircraft Noise and Land Use Near Airports." Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Vol. 3, No. 12, Mar. 27, 1967, pp. 527-8.

To obtain the maximum benefit from knowledge and technology developed within the Federal Government, each Federal agency or department should coordinate its efforts and cooperate fully with the particular Departments most concerned, which are the Department of Transportation in matters relating to the prevention, control and abatement of aircraft noise, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development in matters relating to the compatible use of land in the vicinity of airports.

The President then directed agency and department heads, consistent with the performance of their mission and relevant legislation, to take into explicit and due account aircraft noise whenever it is relevant to any of their programs or to action in which they may participate.

With this memorandum, the President published a report from his science adviser, Dr. Hornig, announcing that a comprehensive program aimed at alleviating aircraft noise problems had been agreed to on April 29, 1966, and that the participating agencies were working to carry out its objectives. This program seeks first to identify, from the viewpoints of technology, economic efficiency and public policy, the combination of noise alleviation actions which must be undertaken to improve the situation near airports; and second, to develop practical ways and means to accomplish such actions. The report closed with the observation that:

Although little immediate relief is foreseeable from the disturbance of aircraft noise, existing research and development programs hold promise of noise reduction in aircraft and engines. The effects of noise which cannot be eliminated from the aircraft can be minimized by appropriate use of land in the vicinity of airports.

(c) Air Pollution

Presidential recommendations, introduction of numerous bills, congressional hearings, and enactment of far-reaching legislation reflected the public concern which made air pollution abatement a major national science policy matter during 1967. Passage of the Air Quality Act of 1967, hearings held on District of Columbia pollution regulation, and reports and hearings on electric vehicles as an alternative to the internal combustion engine, source of many pollutants, were highlights of action taken in wake of growing concern.

(1) The Air Quality Act of 1967.-A major legislative accomplishment of the 90th Congress was passage of Public Law 90-148 (81 Stat. 485), the Air Quality Act of 1967, which was signed by the President on November 21, 1967. The act authorized $428.3 million for Federal air pollution control efforts in fiscal years 1968, 1969, and 1970. Of this, $125 million is for research during fiscal years 1968 and 1969 on pollution caused by fuels, and combustion-including automobile emission.

Air pollution was featured in President Johnson's message of January 30, 1967, "Protecting Our National Heritage."148 In that message the President called for:

1. A national program of minimum emission levels for certain pollutants, coupled with regional applications of emission standards;

2. A program to establish regional airsheds to provide for more effective, coordinated attacks on the problem;

148 "Protecting Our National Heritage." Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Vol. 3, No. 5, Feb. 6, 1967, pp. 131-142.

3. A program of Federal matching grants for State inspection programs to insure maximum control of automotive exhausts;

4. Improved enforcement procedures;

5. Accelerated research on fuel additives; and

6. A 50-percent increase in Federal research funds on the causes and control of air pollution, including motor vehicle emissions, diesel exhaust, alternative methods of motor vehicle propulsion, and sulfur emissions. Public Law 90-148 did not authorize the Federal emission standards for major industrial pollutants that the President requested. It did authorize a 2-year study of the need for and effect of such standards, and directed the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to report his findings, with attention to-

Information regarding identifiable health and welfare effects from single emission sources;

Examples of specific plants, their location, and the contaminant or contaminants which, due to the amount or nature of emissions from such facilities, constitute a danger to public health or welfare; An up-to-date list of those industries and the contaminant or contaminants which, in his opinion, should be subject to such national standards;

The relationship of such national emission standards to ambient air quality, including a comparison of situations wherein several plants emit the same contaminants in an air region with those in which only one such plant exists; and

An analysis of the cost of applying such standards.

The Secretary also is to investigate and study the feasibility and practicability of controlling emissions from jet and piston aircraft engines and of establishing national standards therefor. He is to report his recommendations to Congress by November 21, 1968.

As for research and development, the act requires the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to establish a national research and development program for the prevention and control of air pollution. Section 103 specifies that the Secretary is to

(1) Conduct, and promote the coordination and acceleration of research, investigations, experiments, training, demonstrations, surveys, and studies relating to the causes, effects, extent, prevention, and control of air pollution;

(2) Encourage, cooperate with, and render technical services and provide financial assistance to air pollution control agencies and other appropriate public or private agencies, institutions, and organizations, and individuals in the conduct of such activities;

(3) Conduct investigations and research and make surveys concerning any specific problem of air pollution in cooperation with any air pollution control agency with a view to recommending a solution of such problem, if he is requested to do so by such agency or if, in his judgment, such problem may affect any community or communities in a State other than that in which the source of the matter causing or contributing to the pollution is located; and

(4) Establish technical advisory committees composed of recognized exerts in various aspects of air pollution to assist in the

examination and evaluation of research progress and proposals and to avoid duplication of research.

The act authorizes the Secretary to make grants, issue contracts, cooperate with other public and private agencies involved in air pollution research; to train and make training grants for air pollution control personnel, and establish research fellowships; and to collect and disseminate basic data and other information about air pollution and its prevention and control. In addition, section 103 authorizes the Secretary to "*** develop effective and practical processes, methods, and prototype devices for the prevention and control of air pollution."

Section 104 deals with research for fuels and vehicles. The Secretary is to give special emphasis to research and development into new and improved methods, having industry wide application, for the prevention and control of air pollution from fuels.

The Air Quality Act provides that carrying out such research, the Secretary shall

(1) Conduct and accelerate research programs directed toward development of improved, low-cost techniques for control of combustion byproducts of fuels, for removal of potential pollutants from fuels, and for control of emissions from evaporation of fuels; (2) Provide for Federal grants *** for payment of part of the cost of acquiring, constructing, or otherwise securing for research and development purposes, new or improved devices or methods having industrywide application of preventing or controlling discharges into the air of various types of pollutants; ***Provided that research or demonstration contracts awarded *** may be made in accordance with, and subject to the limitations provided with respect to research contracts of the military departments in, section 2353 of title 10 United States Code **

(3) Determine, by laboratory and pilot plant testing, the results of air pollution research and studies in order to develop new or improved processes and plant designs to the point where they can be demonstrated on a large and practical scale;

(4) Construct, operate, and maintain, or assist in meeting the cost of the construction, operation, and maintenance of new or improved demonstration plants or processes which have promise of accomplishing the purposes of this act; and

(5) Study new or improved methods for the recovery and marketing of commercially valuable byproducts resulting from the removal of pollutants.

In carrying out this research under section 104, the Secretary may(1) Conduct and accelerate research and development of lowcost instrumentation techniques to facilitate determination of quantity and quality of air pollutant emissions, including, but not limited to automotive emissions;

(2) Utilize, on a reimbursable basis, ths facilities of existing Federal scientific laboratories;

(3) Establish and operate necessary facilities and test sites at which to carry on research, testing, development, and programing necessary to effectuate the purposes of this section;

(4) Acquire secret processes, technical data, inventions, patent applications, patents, licenses, and an interest in lands, plants and facilities, and other property or rights by purchase, license, lease, or donation; and

(5) Cause on-site inspections to be made of promising domestic and foreign projects, and cooperate and participate in their development in instances in which the purposes of the act will be served thereby.

By November 21, 1968, the Secretary is to define atmospheric areas of the Nation, taking into account conditions including climate, meteorology and topography which affect the interchange and diffusion of pollutants in the air. By May 21, 1969, he then is to designate air quality control regions.

After consultation with advisory committees and Federal departments and agencies, the Secretary shall as soon as practical, develop and issue to the States such criteria of air quality as in his judgment may be requisite for the protection of the public health and welfare. The act provides that any criteria issued prior to the enactment of Public Law 90-148 shall be reevaluated and, if necessary, modified and reissued. This proviso would appear to cancel the much-criticized cirteria on sulfur oxides, issued by HEW in March 1967. Such criteria are to reflect the latest scientific knowledge useful in indicating the kind and extent of all identifiable effects on health and welfare from air pollutants. Also the Secretary is to issue to the States and air pollution control agencies information on recommended pollution control techniques. His recommendations shall include such data as are available on the latest available technology and economic feasibility of alternative methods of prevention and control of air pollution.

State governments too are directly involved, for the act looks first. to the States to adopt and enforce ambient air quality standards, with the Secretary promulgating such standards only if a State does not take the actions outlined in section 108.

In title II of Public Law 90-148, Congress enacted the National Emission Standards Act. This legislation authorizes the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to prescribe as soon as practicable "standards applicable to the emission of any kind of substance, from any class or classes of new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines, which in his judgment cause or contribute to, or are likely to cause or contribute to, air pollution which endangers the health or welfare of any persons."

Title II prohibits the manufacture and sale in interstate commerce of new motor vehicles or engines for them that do not conform with Federal regulations. A manufacturer can apply to the Secretary to test any new motor vehicle or new motor vehicle engine to determine whether it conforms to the regulations. If it does, the Secretary shall issue a certificate of conformity, and subsequent production which is in all material respects substantially the same as the test model shall be deemed to be in conformity with the regulations.

A possible conflict between automobile emission regulations of the State of California and those which might be issued by the Secretary